Lessons from the Past: What Can the District of Columbia Public School Closures Tell Us About Current Educational Reform Debates?

• In Event: Containment, Closures, and Desegregation in Twentieth and Twenty-First Century Schools

Abstract

Historians can ask important questions after illuminating complexities of the past and unintended consequences that emerge from policies. Accountability policy of the early twenty-first century exacerbated inequality and disproportionately closed public schools throughout US cities in predominantly Black neighborhoods. This paper engages larger educational policy debates through the example of the John F. Cook Elementary School (JFCES) in Washington, DC. JFCES was closed in 2008 and serves as a vantage point from which to see the impact of politics and policy on the people for whom the school’s closure meant most. What do lessons from the JFCES closure offer policymakers toward creating a more just-centered present when educational reforms potentially exacerbate already alarming rates of wealth and educational inequality?

Author

• Danielle M. Carrier, University of Southern Mississippi